How To Tie A Tautline Hitch Knot

Those who know how to tie a tautline hitch knot will find their outdoor activities taking on a whole new feeling. This knot is perfect for camping and other outdoor activities. This is because the tautline hitch is done so that the knot itself can be moved by hand, but otherwise will not move when pressure is applied to either end of the rope.

To tie a tautline hitch knot you will need:

One 24" length of rope

One person to tie the rope

Create the loop. You will be making a loop out of the rope. The tautline hitch knot will secure this rope until you move it. Create the loop by folding the rope in half.

Circle the rope. With the rope loosely folded in half, take one end of the rope and wrap it twice around the other half of the rope. The end that is doing the wrapping should be seen twice on the top of the rope as well as twice on the bottom.

Cross over the wrapped rope. To make the tautline hitch, take the end of the rope that is doing the wrapping and bring it across the rope so that it goes from the bottom to the top of the wrapped part.

Secure the knot. Take the end of the rope that was just brought to the top of the wrapped rope and wrap this end around the rope once. After going around the rope once, tuck this end of the rope through the part that crossed from top to bottom pull snugly to tighten. To make sure you have learned how to tie a tautline hitch knot correctly, check to see that one end of the rope has gone around the other end three times total. The tail of the rope should be sticking out between the first and last times the rope was wrapped.